Maybe Not so Dense
by SirAmbala
Summary: Ash is getting ready to battle Paul, and it will be his toughest battle yet. Perhaps the tomoboy red head with the fiery attitude is just what he needs. Pokeshipping!


A/N: Here is the other side of The Dense Ones, hope you enjoy!

ooOOoo

I had arrived in Sinnoh less than an hour ago. Currently I was headed to the cafeteria where I hoped to find Ash at. I knew his stomach well, and figured that to be the best place to find him. It was only a week ago I called May in a panic. It had been well over a year since I had last seen the budding Pokémon master, and I just couldn't take it anymore. When we had travelled together my feelings for him could be held at bay because I spent every waking moment with him. Now though things were hard. When I wasn't busy with Gym duties my brain focused on him and only him. After a good conversation with May I took her advice and got the first ticket to the Sinnoh championship I could. I made a pit stop in pallet to pick a couple things up Professor Oak wished for me to bring to Ash. Apparently he was facing his new rival Paul in the semifinals, and he was going to need all the help he could get. So now I had a few Pokémon Professor Oak wished for Ash to use in that very battle.

I made my way through the Pokémon center to the cafeteria. The center was twice the size of a normal one and it took forever to find where the cafeteria was at. After wandering around for fifteen minutes I finally found it. As I walked through the doors I was roughly shoved aside by some other teen.

"Hey! That was rude!"

"Do I look like I care? Next time don't be in the way."

"I otta pound you into the ground."

"You? Some little girl thinks she can beat me, now that's a good one."

"You want to battle me to find out?"

"I don't have time for pathetic people like you."

I never got a chance to say something because some hyper kid came up to us.

"Hey Paul, good luck in your battle today!"

"Paul?"

"Yes that would be my name. Now excuse me both of you, but I would like to go where annoying people aren't present."

"Paul, Barry!"

"Hey Ash, I was just wishing Paul luck in your battle tomorrow! I know that it is going to be amazing."

"It sure will, I'm super siked!"

"You must like losing all the time then."

"That's it; I'm getting really sick of you. Not only were you rude to me, but now you're being terrible to my best friend. I know for a fact that he is going to mop the arena with your Pokémon tomorrow!"

"That's a good one."

"Mist?" Came Ash's voice from the other side of Paul.

"Oh, hey Ash. Surprise, I'm here." Instead of greeting me in his normal fashion he gave me a bear hug. One that lasted much longer than a normal hug should have. He seemed reluctant to let me go, and when he did there were unexplained emotions in his eyes. By that time present company was starring at us weird.

"I'm…I'm so glad you're okay."

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

"Your sisters called us this morning in a panic because you and your Pokémon had disappeared. Then we called May to see if she knew anything. All she said was not to worry and hung up on me. I thought something terrible had happened to you."

"Oh Ash, I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to surprise you and come see you compete. I figured it had been way too long since we had last seen each other."

"That explains the problem you called May about."

"What Brock?"

"When we called May, she said you had called her last week with problems. This explains it."

My cheeks grew red, I could feel it. At that point I realized we had done all this in the middle of the cafeteria with many people watching. Brock seemed to notice this as well and started ushering the Barry kid and their new female travelling companion away. That Paul kid had disappeared at some point.

"Come you two, these guys need some time alone."

"Do you want to go talk outside Mist? There is a nice lake a short walk from here."

"Sure"

We walked in silence the entire way. My heart was racing, and my hands were shaking. I knew the reason I had come here was to finally tell Ash how I felt, and now I was wondering whether I was going to be able to follow through with it. We found a nice spot on the grass a little ways away from the lake. It was calm and I let it envelope me and calm me down.

"It really surprised me you showing up here."

"I missed you."

"I missed you as well. Dawn's a nice girl, but she isn't you."

"You actually miss arguing with me?"

"I missed having you at my side period. We used to do this all the time. Stay up and talk while Brock slept. It's been kind of lonely since you left all that time ago."

"At least you had Brock. At the Gym it's just me. I thought I would love being a gym leader, but it's not what it's all cracked up to be."

"What do you mean?"

"I miss the wide open spaces. Looking at the same four walls everyday gets pretty old. The Gym is just one punk trainer after another, and let's not forget the massive amount of paperwork."

"If you don't like it that much, then why haven't you left?"

"It's the only thing I have now. Where would I go?"

"You've always got me."

"What are you saying Ash?"

''Why don't you start travelling with us again? Yeah, after this we can find a new region and travel like old times. You, I, and Brock can be like we were before."

"…"

"Mist?"

"I don't want things to be how they were before Ash. Were not kids anymore. We can't just travel like we used to. All of us have changed since we split all those years ago."

"What are you talking about? Are you saying you don't want to be with us?"

"It's not that Ash; I don't want it to be like before. It was okay then, we were still so young that I just ignored it. Then I went home and all I could do was think about it. I finally called May because it hurt so badly."

"Misty, what hurt?"

"I did Ash. It was too much to bear anymore. I needed to see you more than anything. May suggested I come surprise you, so that's why I came." By now tears were starting to form. All the emotions I had bottled up for so long exploded and all I could do was cry. I felt so pathetic doing it in front of Ash. To him I was the tomboy girl with the fiery attitude. What was he going to think of me now?

To my surprised two arms wound themselves around me as the tears started to fall. Ash started murmuring to me trying to sooth me. After a while the tears stopped and my breathing became regular. We stayed like that for some time, and I was scared to face him again.

"Oh Mist, I wish you would have told me sooner how bad it was for you. I would have gone to see you or something. I never suspected you to be in as much pain as I was."

"Ash?"

"I've missed you too Mist. I still beat myself over the head for letting you go after Johto, but I thought that was what you wanted. You're an amazing water trainer, and I thought running your Gym was what you wanted. My heart hasn't stopped aching for you since."

"Oh Ash!" I pushed myself closer to him and clung to him. His arms tightened around me as my heart began to speed up again. I never would have thought today would turn out like this when I left the Gym early in the morning.

"Stay Misty, stay with me and travel again. Not like before though, instead please be my girlfriend."

I was pretty sure my vocal cords wouldn't work, so I did the most logical thing and threw my arms around his neck and kissed him senseless.

"I'll take that as a yes?"

"Of course Mr. Pokémon Master. Would you like to tell me what happened to the dense kid I left back in Pallet?"

"He grew up. What happened to the tomboy with an attitude that wanted to be a water Pokémon master?"

"She's still there; she just fell in love I guess."

"Good, because that's what I love about her."

We sat leaning on each other for a few more hours before making the trek to the Pokémon center.

ooOOoo

Once back at the center I made the call to May. Her rival Drew picked up the phone and I had an interesting conversation with him. He reminded me a little of myself, so I liked him immediately. After hanging up on him I realized that May wasn't going to be single much longer either. That done I turned back to see Ash talking to Brock and Brock clapping him on the back and giving me a knowing smile. I smiled and blushed a bit as I walked back to the table as Ash threaded his hand with mine right away. A squeal from behind us signaled us of Dawn's presence.

"I'm so happy for you two!"

"Thanks Dawn. I'm Misty by the way, nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, I've heard so much about you from Ash. Not to mention that lure he keeps on him at all times."

"He told me you caught is Biuzel with that lure, glad to see it still works." At that point I took out a hat from my bag. It was Ash's old league hat that he used to wear. He had sent it to me a few years prior as a birthday gift. I wore it around the Gym all the time. I put it on as Ash turned and smiled at me.

"That explains what happened to the hat too."

"What about the hat?" Asked Dawn.

"That was my old league hat from the beginning of my journey. I gave it to Misty a few years ago so she would have something to remember me by."

As I was closing my bag back up I remembered something.

"Ash, I almost forgot. I have something from Professor Oak for you."

"Really what is it?"

I handed him a few poke balls in response. "He asked me to bring you these. He says that your battle with Paul tomorrow may be tougher than the one with Gary, so he thought you were going to need your strongest."

"Why didn't he just send them to me like he has for the rest of the battles?"

"Because I wasn't going to be at the lab tomorrow to exchange them for you."

"Professor Oak!"

We all stood back as Ash was reunited with the one that got him started on this journey, and the one that gave birth to him. Another surprise came as Tracy and Gary both showed up as well. It seemed that all his old friends were here to support him. His hand once again threaded with mine and his mother gave us a happy smile.

"Well my boy what are you waiting for? Go outside and see who is going to help you win tomorrow."

Our rather large group went outside to watch. I could tell Ash was happy, and Dawn seemed really surprised. Brock was filling her in on who everyone was, and how they related to Ash. Ash found a good clearing and took the five poke balls given to him into the air. Five very familiar Pokémon greeted him with their own names. He stood in shock as he took in who was before him. Charizard stood to the far left looking proud as ever. The fire fighting Squirtel stood next to the fire type. The grass type ambassador stood in the middle. It was the last two though that were the best surprises. They were the last, but over all were the first. They were the first two to be caught by the ten year old rookie fresh out of Pallet. Still with the golden ribbon around its neck Butterfree floated merely. The proud Pigeotte stood to the far right.

"It took some time and a few favors, but I was able to gather them all for you. I figured with this being your toughest battle to date, you were going to need your best. These guys were with you at the start."

"Thank you professor. Thank you everyone for coming to support me, I won't let you down."

ooOOoo

Ash was true to his word. He didn't let us or his Pokémon down. The battle with Paul was the best I had ever seen Ash. Dawn especially couldn't believe what a change this battle was from the previous. While he wasn't with these Pokémon all the time, they were his first and best. They had been with him from the start and would see it till the end. The look on Paul's face when Ash called out this team of Pokémon was priceless. He had been expecting Ash to use his Sinnoh Pokémon after all. Paul's brother was surprised as well, and Brock explained where this team came from.

As the battle came to a close Piegeotte took out Paul's Torterra. The buzzer sound and the match was over. Ash had finally won against Paul and couldn't have looked happier. He ran and gave his bird a hug and let the other out to join in the celebration.

Of course that was a week ago. Ash ended up winning the Sinnoh League and we went back to Pallet to celebrate. Now were headed to Vermillion to meet up with May and Drew to go head to a new region. The region we are heading to have Gyms and a partners contest circuit, so the new couple decided to join our trio there. It sure was going to be an adventure now that was something I really looked forward to!

ooOOoo

A/N: Someone wanted the other side of Dense Ones and I decided to do it. Hope you liked! I know I enjoyed writing it. Please review!


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